Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Michael Lomenda, Erich Bergen, Mike Doyle, Christopher Walken
Jersey Boys is the film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name. It tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which consist of Frankie Valli (Young) Tommy DeVito (Piazza), Nick Massi (Lomenda) and Bob Gaudio (Bergen). It shows how these boys came up from the streets and carved out a new sound in showbiz, and how the bond of friendship was tested throughout their careers.
I’ve wanted to see the stage show for a long time but I haven’t managed to see it yet, so I’ve been anticipating this film for a while (although I recently found out that the stage show is coming to my city next year). I also love Clint Eastwood as a director, although going into it I didn’t know anything about the background to the group, so my expectations weren’t too high. It starts off in Jersey when Frankie is still discovering his voice, and from there it moves forward through time up until the group’s induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. At certain points in the film it cuts away and one of the band members breaks the fourth wall to talk directly through the camera to the audience. I didn’t find this jarring, but I didn’t think it was employed as well as it might have been. The jumps to this narration seemed quite arbitrary and they didn’t really seem all that different to each other. I thought they would have given more flavor and depth to the characters as we would have seen their interpretation of events but it was used more as a way to shepherd the viewer along.
There were some other problems I had with the narrative as well. Frankie’s family disappeared from the film for a large portion, and were then reintroduced when something tragic had to happen. This cut away from some of the emotional impact and I would have preferred it had they found a way to integrate his family better.
But the film shines when the four members interact. They all have distinct personalities, although if anything Piazza steals the show as Tommy, and sometimes it seems more like it’s a biopic of Tommy than anyone else. He had the most energetic material to work with and provided the raw emotion, while the others were more restrained. I thought that Nick had the least development. Bob was a strange one. His ending monolog presented him as an egoist who saw himself as integral and even responsible for the band’s success, but he wasn’t presented as being this way in the film itself, so I found that a bit odd.
I was really disappointed by one thing though. At the end of the film there’s no little passage that tells about what happened after the events of the film! I love that about biopics and I’m saddened that something like it was left out of this one.
There were a couple of nice touches though. A cute one is when Frankie is lamenting the fact that everyone always leaves. In the background the song is playing, ‘won’t you stay-ay-ay’.
The music in this film is amazing. They nail the vocals and it’s a feast for the ears. I didn’t realize until I watched this how much a fan I am of these songs. They’re so fun and full of life that it’s impossible to watch it and not feel uplifted. I was also unaware of the tragedy behind ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You‘ and when it finally plays…damn. Such a triumphant moment in the film. The ending reminded me of classic musicals and a stage show curtain call and I’ve had the songs ringing around my head for the past couple of hours.
All in all I have a few problems with the narrative but the songs make up for any shortcoming. The music is simply phenomenal and it’s worth going to see this movie for the tunes alone. If you like this sort of music as much as I do then go and see it now because you’ll lose yourself to it.
